Black Sand...&...a Jungle Drive

Yesterday was the shortest distance we drove that took a long, long time to complete.  The drive from the lowlands to the extreme east side of Maui is a test of tight roads, single lanes, hair pin turns, one way bridges....and all for the sake of seeing the only black sand beach that we know exists in the world.  There may be more black beaches.....but the Maui one - near the east island town of Hana - was quite the sight.

View of Blacksand Beach from the opposite side of the bay.

The real thing.  And the fine sand, past the small stones is interesting to witness.

The beach is situated at Waianapanapa State Park in Pa'iloa Bay.  The breakers crash strongly against the volcanic rock. 

Back to the highway that took us from Kahului City to Hana, it offers extraordinary sights and endless discoveries; including endless jungles filled with cypress, bamboo and other foliage I could not begin to name.

Bamboo is prevalent everywhere on this island but more particularly so on the eastern part of the island.

Waterfalls tend to draw the tourists to attempt the very slow drive to Hana.  The down side of that is the fact that no parking is made available to go see these waterfalls.  With only one or two illegal places to park, and the busy traffic, one can forget about attempting to hunt out the waterfalls.  And there are no road side signs directing drivers to the waterfall sites.  I don't get that!  Tourist information highlights the waterfalls on that route.  We did see a few smaller ones though.  

Truth be told, the waterfalls we have back home, on the BC coast, are far bigger and more powerful than those on Maui.  The difference though is the high humidity here and the jungle setting that sets them apart. 

This Pa'iloa Beach setting is stunning

I could sit here all day and just take in the surf crashing on the volcanic outcroppings.

The Kahului to Hana highway was originally part of the trail that encircled the island.  Completed in the 1500's, the 138-mile long trail was built under King Pi'ilani and his son's reign.

A nice gentleman, working his way back from the volcanic trek to the waterside, offered to take our photo.

The cliff-side rock wall is black like the sand on the beach.

We did not see any surfers in this bay.  That could be due to the severe and sharp rocks that protrude from the ocean. Even walking around here demands some careful steps.

Looking out on Pa'iloa Bay

By 2:30 pm, it was time for us to leave to head back for Lahaina.  Although only a less than 70 km drive, it would take us better than 2.5 hours to complete that journey,

Back at our condo, we took a long walk along the Lahaina ocean front before settling in for the evening.

It was another very good day on the island of Maui.  Thanks for dropping in.

Mahalo